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The attorney started, as if he were unconscious of any impropriety, and
continued--
 So you settled the matter with Natty amicably on the spot, did you?
 He gi n me the skin, and I didn t want to quarrel with an old man; for my
part, I see no such mighty matter in shooting a buck?
 And you parted friends? and you would never have thought of bringing the
business up before a court, hadn t you been subpSnaed?
 I don t think I should; he gi n the skin, and I didn t feel a hard thought,
though Squire Doolittle got some affronted.
 I have done, sir, said Mr. Lippet, probably relying on the charge of the
Judge, as he again seated himself, with the air of a man who felt that his
success was certain.
When Mr. Van der School arose to address the jury, he commenced by saying--
 Gentlemen of the jury, I should have interrupted the leading questions put
by the prisoner s counsel, (by leading questions I mean telling him what to
say,) did I not feel confident that the law of the land was superior to any
advantages (I mean legal advantages) which he might obtain by his art. The
counsel for the prisoner, gentlemen, has endeavoured to persuade you, in
opposition to your own good sense, to believe that pointing a rifle at a
constable (elected or deputed) is a very innocent affair; and that society (I
mean the commonwealth, gentlemen,) shall not be endangered thereby. But let me
claim your attention, while we look over the particulars of this heinous
offence. Here Mr. Van der School favoured the jury with an abridgment of the
testimony, recounted in such a manner as utterly to confuse the faculties of
his worthy listeners. After this exhibition he closed as follows:-- And now,
gentlemen, having thus made plain to your senses the crime of which this
unfortunate man has been guilty, (unfortunate both on account of his ignorance
and his guilt,) I shall leave you to your own consciences; not in the least
doubting that you will see the importance (notwithstanding the prisoner s
counsel (doubtless relying on your former verdict) wishes to appear so
confident of success) of punishing the offender, and asserting the dignity of
the laws.
It was now the duty of the Judge to deliver his charge. It consisted of a
short, comprehensive summary of the testimony, laying bare the artifice of the
prisoner s counsel, and placing the facts in so obvious a light that they
could not well be misunderstood.  Living, as we do, gentlemen, he concluded,
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 on the skirts of society, it becomes doubly necessary to protect the
ministers of the law. If you believe the witnesses, in their construction of
the acts of the prisoner, it is your duty to convict him; but if you believe
that the old man, who this day appears before you, meant not to harm the
constable, but was acting more under the influence of habit than by the
instigations of malice, it will be your duty to judge him, but to do it with
lenity.
As before, the jury did not leave their box, but, after a consultation of
some little time, their foreman arose, and pronounced the prisoner--
 Guilty.
There was but little surprise manifested in the court room at this verdict,
as the testimony, the greater part of which we have omitted, was too clear and
direct to be passed over. The judges seemed to have anticipated this
sentiment, for a consultation was passing among them also, during the
deliberation of the jury, and the preparatory movements of the  bench
announced the coming sentence.
 Nathaniel Bumppo, commenced the Judge, making the customary pause.
The old hunter, who had been musing again, with his head on the bar, raised
himself, and cried, with a prompt, military tone--
 Here.
The Judge waved his hand for silence, and proceeded--
 In forming their sentence, the court have been governed as much by the
consideration of your ignorance of the laws, as by a strict sense of the
importance of punishing such outrages as this of which you have been found
guilty. They have, therefore, passed over the obvious punishment of whipping
on the bare back, in mercy to your years; but as the dignity of the law
requires an open exhibition of the consequences of your crime, it is ordered,
that you be conveyed from this room to the public stocks, where you are to be
confined for one hour; that you pay a fine to the state of one hundred
dollars; and that you be imprisoned in the goal of this county for one
calender month; and furthermore, that your imprisonment do not cease until the
said fine shall be paid. I feel it my duty, Nathaniel Bumppo, --
 And where should I get the money! interrupted the Leather-stocking,
eagerly;  where should I get the money! you ll take away the bounty on the
painters, because I cut the throat of a deer; and how is an old man to find so
much gold or silver in the woods? No, no, Judge; think better of it, and don t
talk of shutting me up in a gaol for the little time I have to stay. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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